B. B. Paddock

B. B. Paddock
Paddock's portrait for the 33rd Texas Legislature
Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas
In office April 12, 1892 – April 10, 1900
Preceded by	John Peter Smith
Succeeded by	T. J. Powell
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
In office January 11, 1881 – January 9, 1883
Preceded by	William Randall Gause
Succeeded by	George W. Wyatt
Constituency	53rd district
In office January 14, 1913 – January 12, 1915
Preceded by	Emil Gieptner
Succeeded by	Hunter Pope Lane
Constituency	52nd district
Personal details
Born	Boardman Buckley Paddock (1844-01-22)January 22, 1844 Cleveland, Ohio, US
Died	January 9, 1922(1922-01-09) (aged 77) Fort Worth, Texas, US
Party	Democratic
Relations	Guy Richardson Pitner (son-in-law)
Occupation	Politician, businessman, military officer, writer
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Rank	Captain
Unit	1st Mississippi Cavalry Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Iuka Battle of Rowlett's Station Battle of Shiloh Siege of Vicksburg

Boardman Buckley Paddock (or Buckley Burton Paddock; January 22, 1844 – January 9, 1922) was an American politician, businessman, military officer, and writer. A Democrat, he was the mayor of Fort Worth, Texas and a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

Born in Cleveland, Paddock later lived in Mississippi. He was a military officer in the American Civil War. He later moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he worked as a newspapeeman and a businessman. He was a member of the House from 1881 to 1883, and again from 1913 to 1915, and was mayor of Fort Worth from 1892 to 1890.

Early life

Paddock was born on January 22, 1844, in Cleveland, one of six children born to Boardman Paddock and Margaret (née Buckley) Paddock. From 1845 to c. 1859, he and his family lived in Wisconsin. He was an autodidact. He traveled westward throughout the United States and lived for a year among Native Americans. He later moved to south Mississippi.

Military service

In 1861, Paddock enlisted as a private into the 1st Mississippi Cavalry Regiment at Yazoo City, and on July 2, 1862, was promoted to captain, becoming the youngest person in the Confederate States Army to hold the rank.

Paddock was a member of the Confederate Secret Service and the Confederate Signal Corps. He was taken prisoner at least five or seven times, not once for more than 36 hours. He was once imprisoned by Confederate genral Edmund Kirby Smith for looking too young to be a Confederate officer.

Paddock fought in the Battle of Champion Hill; the Siege of Corinth; the Battle of Iuka; the Battle of Rowlett's Station; the Battle of Shiloh; and the Siege of Vicksburg; among other battles. In a minor skirmish, in June 1864, he sunk an ironclad warship that had ran out of fuel and captured its crew of 268 men. In another skirmish, along the Sipsey River, he received a minor flesh wound to the thigh. Paddock believed that one of the company's skirmishes was the last battle of the war fought in the Eastern United States, as well as the last time the Confederate flag was flown in battle.

Paddock inherited command of 48 men, which became 110 by the end of the war. He and his men developed a reputation for not dying in combat. Paddock claimed that in every battle they fought during the war, not one man died. In an Alabama skirmish in late April 1865, several men were killed, though general Robert E. Lee had surrendered by then, thus officially concluding the war, the news of which having not reached them at the time. Throughout the war, Paddock had five of his horses killed, and in one battle, suffered 27 bullet punctures to his shirt. Novelist George Washington Cable, who served under him, used Paddock as inspiration for his 1901 novel The Cavalier.

Career

Following the war, Paddock lived in Fayette, Mississippi for seven or eight years, where he read law and was admitted to the bar. In October 1872, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas. He practiced law for a short time, before purchasing The Fort Worth Democrat. The newspaper's publisher from 1873 to 1881, he advertised the city nationwide, leading to its growth. On July 4, 1876, he founded the Daily Democrat, which was also successful.

In 1882, Paddock's newspapers were consolidated into the The Fort Worth Gazette, which he was editor of until November 1885. In 1893, he became a teller for the First National Bank of Fort Worth. From 1886 to 1889, he was president of the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway. In 1891, he founded the Fort Worth and Utica Trust Company. From the 1890s to 1914, he unsuccessfully worked to have coal mines created in Young County.

Paddock was a Democrat. He was the mayor of Forth Worth, from April 12, 1892, to April 10, 1900. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, from January 11, 1881, to January 9, 1883, and again from January 14, 1913, to January 12, 1915. In his first term, he represented the 53rd district, and during his second term, represented the 52nd district. While in the House, he was chairman of the Committees on the Confederate Home and on Public Printing, and was vice-chairman of the Committee on Privileges, Suffrage and Elections. He was a member of the Committees on Educational Affairs; Internal Improvements. He was a Presidential elector in the 1892 election, as which he voted for John M. Palmer and Simon Bolivar Buckner. Ideologically, he was liberal.

In 1889 and 1890, Paddock was president of the Texas Spring Palace. From 1901 until his retirement, Paddock was president of the Fort Worth Board of Trade. He wrote a four-volume book on the history of Fort Worth and North Texas. A major Fort Worth figure, he was made honorary president of its city council and was the namesake of the Paddock Viaduct. He retired from business in November or December 1909.

Personal life and death

On December 10, 1867, Paddock married Emmie Harper, with whom he had four children. One of their daughters, Virgile Paddock, married pianist Guy Richardson Pitner. He was a member of the Old Side of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, as well as a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Knights of Honor; the Knights of Pythias; and the Royal Arch Masons. Physically, he was 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m) tall and had blue eyes.

Paddock died on January 9, 1922, aged 77, in Fort Worth, and was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Fort Worth. In 2012, he was inducted into the Texas Trail of Fame. An archive of his papers is held by the Perry–Castañeda Library, of the University of Texas at Austin.

References